Where were you 16yrs ago?

[mmalleck]

I saw the news early, then went into work. It was a very sad and distracting day with everyone watching crummy TV streams. We had TVs going in the A/V lab as well.

Some people called me to say they weren't coming in, literally scared there would be bombs going off in Seattle, or additional attacks.

A software developer sent me an email. He had flown out of New York that day. He said he just landed in Seattle and was going to be late. He needed to get ahold of his parents to let them know he was not "on one of those planes".

We had at least 5 employees in NYC working that we tried to get home via chartered aircraft. What I remember most following 9/11 is the lack of vapor trails and the sound of aircraft.

[Rix86]

At work when I found out from the tv in the customer lounge.

[leadcounsel]

At the time I was working as a stock broker in Denver, and 1/2 way thru law school. On a normal day I would have started my work shift around 6am (8am EST). Our office had TVs hanging everywhere with all the news channels. Had I been at work, I would have watched it live.

Here's a copy of the compilation news broadcasts that day. http://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/09 ... usmilitary

However, on Tuesday, 9/11/01, I took the day off because I had a big law school project to work on. I slept in, woke up around 7-8am (9-10am EST). First thing I did was call this woman I was interested in to say good morning. She was hysterical and couldn't talk and hung up the phone, muttering we were attacked. I turned on the TV and about 9-10am est. I think the first thing I saw was NYC covered in smoke. My first reaction was that it was a nuclear attack since I didn't know planes were involved. The rest is a blur because so many replays, I can't say what I saw live or recorded, but obviously I saw it that morning on 5 or more channels. I just remember sitting down and being glued to the TV for days.

Work in the stock market was surreal. IIRC my firm lost employees in NYC. Or at least folks knew of others in the industry that were missing or dead. Massive sadness and long faces for the human losses and the stock market losses, and people knew the prior rallies were over and we were going to war.
Markets crashed worse than had been seen in a century and trading halted for IIRC a week. There was colossal panic and customers lost millions of dollars. Just surreal.

I don't know how anyone focused on anything school or work related for weeks or months. It consumed every conversation, thought, emotion... Endless talks with friends about it in the period.

I had some friends in visiting from New Jersey. Their flights were canceled for a week. So they were stranded. It was such a bizarre time, and sometimes I wonder if it was a bad dream. And then I atch the videos and get sad and chills.

My life definitely changed paths - went from being on a corporate securities lawyer track to an Army lawyer. Not long afterward, when the wars weren't over quickly, I signed up to serve in the Army.

Maybe an obvious statement but it was the worst event in my lifetime and the single event I'd wish to erase from every happening in my life. Our nation changed and the world changed for the worse as a result. I feel like things were innocent, fun, and great pre-attack, and afterwards we became so divided and hateful and fearful and lost our innocence. (Yeah, I know there was hate and violence beforehand, but my personal vision just seems like it all changed.)

[db-elwood]

...first a big sigh..i was 25 years old...the day before i was hanging out with one of my best friends who was entertaing this insanely hot Swedish girl, so we were hanging out at the 4B's in Freelard.(inbetween Ballard & Fremont)..drinkining mind erasures & whatever else we could think of. Somehow we made our way back home to my spot up the street (down the block from the Buckaroo)....i woke up with that crazy hot Swedish girl in my bed (sadly i was not in it with her)...but my buddy's sister calling him letting us know what just happened...while we were just waking up on my L shaped couch and it was a major eye opener for all af us.

[RockHopper]

I walked into the bank to make the mornings buisness cash deposit. They had the old fashioned tv on a media stand sitting in the lobby, and the bank was empty of customers. Three tellers and the manager just standing there with this tv blaring. The 2nd plane hit right as my attention came to rest on the tv.

As for everyone who experienced it live...it was surreal.

[thefuryoffire]

I grew up just outside NYC. I remember hearing about it on the radio, headed upstairs to the main TV in the house, and turning it on so I could see what was going on.

About an hour later, as we watched the second plane fly into the second tower, I remember very clearly saying, "There's gonna be a war."

They showed us that we could bleed. We showed them we could punch back, though.

This all really came home to us when we got in a shipment at work - I worked at a wooden boat shop at the time. We got in a 75% completed 30ish foot wooden boat with seating for about 10 people. Someone in one of the towers had been building it in his home wood shop and the family couldn't bear to look at it. We finished it and sold it and returned the proceeds to the family.

[SFCRMSA]

I was stationed at FT Bragg, NC and was basically getting ready for permanent Change of Station (PCS) move here to FT Lewis. We immediately went on Base lockdown. Was very tense for the rest of the week.

[delliottg]

Got a call from one of the guys who worked for me at MSFT. Told me to turn on the TV, asked him what channel and he said it didn't matter. Watched the 2nd plane hit. Put a shotgun in the cab of my truck under a blanket and went to work. Nobody was actually working, we were all watching or listening to the news. Took my team to lunch and we mostly watched the news there instead. Told everyone to take the rest of the day off, went home & sat with my dogs and watched it unfold the rest of the day.

Remember thinking about re-enlisting, but I was already past the age where I could.

[the_chadman]

I was a freshmen in highschool out in Chimacum WA. Saw the aftermath of the first plane before leaving for school in the morning and the second in science class. It's all we talked about in any given class. I remember that day very vivid even with my terrible memory. I won't forget.

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[Nate]

At home, staring at the tv in shock and horror, trying to comprehend what was happening. It was all too surreal.

[Soldier_Citizen]

I was in the 6th grade. Was finishing up chores and heard it on the radio. Ran inside, and watched the second plane hit the tower.

[Guntrader]

Heading to Seattle to meet with the federal bankruptcy trustee about a case I was working on.

Heard about it on talk radio in the car.

Got to Seattle and most of the parking garages around there were locked up.
Had to walk 6 blocks.

We saw a jetliner in the sky flying and I remember commenting "Hey, I thought all commercial flights were grounded......"
We were very glad it kept going.

[Eagle Chaplain]

I was at College weight lifting class for wrestling heard something about a plane crash over the radio. After class was over I drove a few of the other wrestlers home and when they turned on the TV heard about the other attacks.

Listened to the radio instead of CDs as I drove home.

Classes for the rest of the day were canceled. We had one wrestler on our team who was Iranian and he left the team about a month after the attacks.

[Pablo]

I was driving from Lynden to work in Bellingham with the news radio on. If you recall it was pretty chaotic or just the first plane was an accident.......then they said the second plane hit. Nothing about the Pentagon or of course Pennsylvania yet. No TV's at work and the internet was completely overwhelmed. I remember silly things like the temperature of the air, and important things like the look on my wife's face and look on my kid's faces when I got home.

I had to travel to Toronto the following week which completely sucked. I'm not going to whine about that here.